HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation:

Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Scoville, Idaho [SEC Petition 00219]

 

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Designation 

of Additional Members of the Special Exposure Cohort 

under the 

Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 

Designating a Class of Employees 

Idaho National Laboratory (INL)

 Scoville, Idaho 
HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation:

Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Scoville, Idaho [SEC Petition 00219]

Page 2

I. Designation 

I, Sylvia M. Burwell, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

(HHS), designate the class of employees defined in Section II of this report for addition to 

the Special Exposure Cohort (SEC), as authorized under the Energy Employees Occupational 

Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 (EEOICPA), 42 U.S.C. § 7384q. 

June 3, 2016 [Signature on File] 

Date Sylvia M. Burwell

II. Employee Class Definition

All employees of the Department of Energy, its predecessor agencies, and their 

contractors and subcontractors who worked at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) in 

Scoville, Idaho, and were monitored for external radiation at INL (e.g., having at least 

one film badge or TLD dosimeter) during the period from March 1, 1970, through 

December 31, 1974, and were employed for a number of work days aggregating at 

least 250 work days, occurring either solely under employment during the period 

from March 1, 1970, through December 31, 1974, or in combination with work days 

within the parameters established for one or more other classes of employees in the 

Special Exposure Cohort. 

III. Designation Criteria and Recommendations

Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 7384q, for the class defined in Section II of this report, the Secretary 

has determined, and the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health (Board) has 

recommended, that

(1) it is not feasible to estimate with sufficient accuracy the radiation dose that the class 

received; and

(2) there is a reasonable likelihood that such radiation dose may have endangered the 

health of members of the class.

The SEC final rule states in 42 C.F.R. § 83.13(c)(1) that it is feasible in two situations to 

estimate the radiation dose that the class received with sufficient accuracy. First, the rule 

states that radiation doses may be estimated with sufficient accuracy if the National Institute 

for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has established that it has access to sufficient 

information to estimate the maximum radiation dose, for every type of cancer for which 

radiation doses are reconstructed, that could have been incurred under plausible 

circumstances by any member of the class. Alternatively, radiation doses may be estimated 

with sufficient accuracy if NIOSH has established that it has access to sufficient information 

to estimate the radiation doses of members of the class more precisely than a maximum dose 

estimate.
HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation:

Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Scoville, Idaho [SEC Petition 00219]

Page 3

NIOSH determined that there is insufficient information to estimate the radiation dose of 

individual members of the class with sufficient accuracy under the two abovementioned 

situations. The Board, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 7384q, advised the Secretary to designate the 

class as an addition to the SEC in a letter received by the Secretary on May 4, 2016. 

IV. Designation Findings 

Infeasibility of Estimating Radiation Doses with Sufficient Accuracy

The Secretary designates the class of employees covered by this report based upon the 

findings summarized below. 

• Principal sources of internal and external radiation exposures for members of the 

proposed INL class included exposures to various isotopes of uranium, thorium, and 

plutonium; tritium; exotic radionuclides (produced from, or as a result of, reactor neutron 

irradiation); and mixed fission and activation products (MFP/MAP). 

• For the period from March 1, 1970, through December 31, 1974, NIOSH has not located 

sufficient personnel or area-monitoring documentation to support reconstruction of 

internal personnel exposures to uranium, neptunium, plutonium, and other related 

transuranic radionuclides. Without additional personnel radiation-monitoring data or airmonitoring data during this period, NIOSH has insufficient information to appropriately 

characterize radioactive material intakes of these radionuclides during these INL 

operations. 

• NIOSH has access to sufficient personnel and area-monitoring data to support external 

dose reconstruction and occupational medical dose with sufficient accuracy for the time 

period from March 1, 1970, through December 31, 1974. 

• Although NIOSH found that it is not possible to completely reconstruct radiation doses 

for the proposed class, NIOSH intends to use any internal and external monitoring data 

that may become available for an individual claim (and that can be interpreted using 

existing NIOSH dose-reconstruction processes or procedures). Therefore, dose 

reconstructions for individuals employed at INL from March 1, 1970, through December 

31, 1974, but who do not qualify for inclusion in the SEC, may be performed using these 

data as appropriate.

• Pursuant to 42 C.F.R. § 83.13(c)(1), NIOSH determined that there is insufficient 

information to either: (1) estimate the maximum radiation dose, for every type of cancer 

for which radiation doses are reconstructed, that could have been incurred under plausible 

circumstances by any member of the class; or (2) estimate the radiation doses of members 

of the class more precisely than a maximum dose estimate.

• The Board concurred with NIOSH’s recommendation to add the proposed class of 

workers to the SEC. 
HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation:

Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Scoville, Idaho [SEC Petition 00219]

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Health Endangerment

The Secretary established the health endangerment determination for the class of employees 

covered by this report based upon the findings summarized below. 

(1) Pursuant to 42 C.F.R. § 83.13(c)(3), NIOSH established that there is a reasonable 

likelihood that such radiation doses may have endangered the health of members of 

the class. Pursuant to 42 C.F.R. § 83.13(c)(3)(ii), NIOSH specified a minimum 

duration of employment to satisfy this health endangerment criterion as “having been 

employed for a number of work days aggregating at least 250 work days within the 

parameters established for this class or in combination with work days within the 

parameters established for one or more other classes of employees in the Cohort.” 

(2) NIOSH did not identify any evidence from the petitioners or from other resources that 

would establish that the class was exposed to radiation during a discrete incident likely 

to have involved exceptionally high-level exposures, such as a nuclear criticality 

incident, as defined under 42 C.F.R. § 83.13(c)(3)(i). 

(3) The Board concurred with NIOSH’s finding that the health of the class may have been 

endangered and defined the class according to the 250-workday requirement specified 

under 42 C.F.R. § 83.13(c) (3)(ii).

V. Effect and Effective Date of Designation

The Secretary submits this report on the designation of one additional class to the SEC for 

review by Congress, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §§ 7384l(14)(C)(ii) and 7384q(c)(2)(A), as 

amended by the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 

2005, Pub. L. No. 108-375 (codified as amended in scattered sections of 42 U.S.C.). 

Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 7384l(14)(C)(ii), as amended by the Ronald W. Reagan National 

Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005, Pub. L. No. 108-375 (codified as amended 

in scattered sections of 42 U.S.C.), the designation in this report will become effective 30 

days after the date of this report’s submission to Congress “unless Congress otherwise 

provides.” 

VI. Administrative Review of Designation

The health endangerment determination of the designation provided in this report may be 

subject to an administrative review within HHS, pursuant to 42 C.F.R. § 83.18(a). On the 

basis of such a review, if the Secretary decides to expand the class of employees covered by 

this designation, the Secretary would transmit a supplementary report to Congress providing 

the expanded employee class definition and the criteria and findings on which the decision 

was based.